Conventionally, a manipulation apparatus is known which is connected to an information processing apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a game apparatus and transmits a manipulation signal to the information processing apparatus (refer to, for example, PTL 1). A controller (manipulation apparatus) disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a left side gripping unit and a right side gripping unit which are gripped by the left and right hands of a user, and a direction key and an operation button disposed on the front face of the controller. From among the components, the direction key is disposed at a position corresponding to the thumb of the left hand when the left side gripping unit is gripped by the left hand, and the operation button is disposed at a position corresponding to the thumb of the right hand when the right side gripping unit is gripped by the right hand. Further, the controller includes two analog sticks provided between the regions in which the direction key and the operation button are disposed.
Such analog sticks have a joystick structure of two orthogonal axes, and each analog stick is provided for semispherical displacement. Thus, if the analog stick is operated, then the controller outputs an operation signal corresponding to the direction of the displacement.